Human Cloning Proponents Attempt Political Maneuver of Missouri Supreme Court

From Missourians Against Human Cloning:

(St. Louis, Missouri) This week both the individual Intervenor-Defendants and the Secretary of State submitted requests to the Missouri Supreme Court asking the court to “remand the case with orders to vacate the summary statement portion of the judgment.” It is interesting to note that the Secretary of State has now completely reversed the legal position she has consistently taken for the past several months., The Secretary previously filed not one but two requests for transfer to the Missouri Supreme Court (one to the Court of Appeals and one directly to the Supreme Court) following the Court of Appeals decision on May 2, 2008. Apparently, the Secretary’s legal advisors have changed their minds and now believe the case is moot—even though the purported “mooting” event occurred long before the Secretary filed either one of her requests for transfer. More likely, the Secretary has now decided it is politically expedient to vacate two decisions that set a precedent of courts actually holding her to her constitutional duties and correcting a ballot summary where she has plainly violated the law.

It is also interesting that the Secretary’s political allies, the Intervenors, joined the Secretary in claiming the lower court opinions should be vacated, but took off the gloves by feeding the Supreme Court overtly political arguments to support their legal “mootness” argument. Plaintiffs’ attorney Edward Greim made the following statements in a response submitted to the Missouri Supreme Court yesterday. “The Missouri Supreme Court should explicitly and unequivocally reject such an outcome-based, politically-driven application of the mootness doctrine. The political arguments raised by the Intervenors have nothing to do with whether a controversy is moot.”

“Missouri citizens must have judicial recourse when an elected public official violates the public trust for his or her political agenda. The law allows citizens this recourse for ballot initiatives and the courts have responded. We urge the Missouri Supreme Court to decide the issue on law and not politics,” stated Lori Buffa, MD, chairwoman of CWC.

Missouri Cures Without Cloning (CWC) is leading a broad-based, statewide coalition of grassroots organizations committed to prohibiting the cloning of human beings in Missouri. Interested citizens are invited to visit www.MOcureswithoutcloning.com for more information.